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I get a lot of hits from people hoping to buy my stuff. This one popped up recently in my search terms:

“vince neil dragon guitar for sale”

Several years ago, the Vince Neil “dragon guitar” by Washburn was on sale so I picked one up. So did my buddy Thuss — except he did sell his. This is his story of how it (eventually) went down.

GETTING MORE TALE #791: The True Story of Thuss’s Vince Neil “Dragon Guitar”

BY THUSS

Lebrain and I had matching guitars for a while, that we both bought at the now defunct Future Shop. They were on clearance and we got them for a really good price ($70 plus tax, originally $300 each, limited to 2500 pieces). They were Washburn dragon guitars which were “autographed” by Vince Neil. The only real autograph in the package was Vince Neil’s actual signature on the certificate of authenticity. After a couple years I decided to sell mine as I never really played it anymore and had moved onto different hobbies.

So I did what everyone else did, and put it up on Kijiji. I wasn’t in a hurry to sell it so I put it up for more than double what I paid for it. I had a few bites, but nothing serious until one guy from Toronto wanted it. He was desperate for it! But there was only one problem: he didn’t drive. First he came to me with an offer of triple what I paid for it if I delivered it to his house. As I said I wasn’t in a hurry to sell it, so I answered no.

I didn’t hear from him for a week or so. Then he emailed back, and asked if I would meet him at the bus station downtown for what I was asking for it. Again I said no, because I hate driving downtown and I didn’t want to pay for parking just to make a sale.

Again a week passed, and he emailed me back. He said “OK”. He’d take about six buses and meet me at my house and he will give me what I’m asking for it. I said sure, and not surprisingly he never showed up.

At this point I had another offer from a dad wanting to buy it for his son. His offer was below what I was asking, but still well above what I paid for it. I accepted, and when they came to pick it up, the son was so happy to have a guitar. He was really excited to start playing, so I’m glad I sold it to someone who would appreciate it.

I thought this was the end of the story but come a month later, the original guy emailed me and said one of his friends was going to drive out to my house so he could pick it up. “Sorry,” I told him, “but I sold it to someone else.”

Guitar-guy immediately emailed me back, and he was pissed! He told me he said he wanted it, and was going to pick it up, so why did I sell it to someone else? I said it was almost two months since he first contacted me and I moved on and sold it to someone else. Finally that got rid of him and I never heard from him again. You meet some “interesting” people on Kijiji. At least I didn’t tell him LeBrain had one too!

GETTING MORE TALE #457: Making the Best Buy (Or, making lemonade from lemons)

In Getting More Tale #326, we lamented that the once-mighty retail chain Best Buy isn’t what it used to be. This time, we’ll take a look back at the store’s history.

Who doesn’t love those fact-filled Uncle John’s books and calendars? Here’s the entry for December 2 2015. Before reading this I had no idea, nor did I really care how Best Buy started. Uncle John changed my tune:

Scan from the Uncle John’s 2015 desk calendar.

Back at the Record Store days in the early 2000’s, the Boss was bracing for a new Best Buy store to open nearby. He figured that we’d probably feel some short term pain, but in the long term the store should draw more customers to the area and we’d benefit from their presence. He also strongly encouraged us not to shop there, a big US chain edging into our turf.

I tried to avoid shopping there at first, but the convenience was too much to resist. When I needed printer ink, computer supplies, or a new movie release, they were right there, and they usually had everything I came in for. That made it hard to avoid. I still tried to shop locally — I remember making special trips to Steve’s TV in Frederick Mall to buy the Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Between big items like TV sets, and small ones like candy, I know I have easily spent thousands of dollars at our local Best Buy stores. They also had hard to find items, such as the rare ZZ Top box set that came in a little box shaped like a barbecue shack (Chrome, Smoke & BBQ). The guilt felt for shopping a big US conglomerate was tempered by the savings and convenience.

That was then. As mentioned in chapter #326, Best Buy took a serious dump a few years ago. Still, a few weeks back, I had the chance to stop by one with my friend and sometimes contributor, Thussy. We had an hour to kill before a work dinner, so we popped into Best Buy, prepared to spend money if they had something we wanted. We spent an hour in the store, but no dollars.

The one thing I would have bought would have been the new Adele CD, 25, for my mom. (Yes, it’s for my mom.) I know Best Buy pretty much cut audio CDs from their stores completely, but hey, it’s Adele. Worth a try, right? Even my grocery store has the new Adele. Best Buy did not have the new Adele. I wasn’t really surprised.

We were tempted by some of their blu-ray deals. We saw a reissue of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which I have already bought thrice, no more no less, over the years: VHS, DVD, and special edition DVD. This new version was a blu-ray, with the same features as the DVD, but a neat little castle set and plastic animals to catapult over it. Very tempting indeed. But both of us said no. We survived their $7.99 cheapie blu-ray bin without spending a penny. The only thing that was almost a serious temptation was that new remote controlled Star Wars Sphero BB-8 toy. It was $180, and it is definitely a neat little toy. But what the hell was I going to do with it? With a big record shopping excursion in Toronto on my horizon, the $180 would be better saved.

It was a pleasant trip to Best Buy, and we marvelled at all the new televisions and gadgets. We were asked by one pleasant employee if we needed any help, and only once, which is exactly how you want it.

Best Buy, what happened to you? Obviously, their story didn’t end with opening 1000 superstores. They continued to grow, by acquiring other electronics and music retail chains, such as Sam Goody. Their presence in Canada was felt in 2001, when they bought out our own, similar chain: Future Shop. That’s when they began horning in on our territory, and freaking out the Boss. They continued to expand and acquire, and their services such as the Geek Squad became household names. It seems this is where Best Buy and I parted ways, as they focused more and more on electronics, and less on the media that I often came in for. They bought mobile phone stores and services, and became the first non-Apple distributor of the iPhone in 2008. Phones, game consoles and tech support took over the spaces once designated for music. Meanwhile online, Best Buy’s on-demand movies, improved web sales services, and quick delivery began to dominate. I bought my laptop online, and it was at my door to me a few days later in the post. Around 2010 however their sales began to dip, but Best Buy shed some weight in order to continue to survive.

It just hasn’t happened with much of my help.

This year, Best Buy’s Canadian acquisition Future Shop bit the dust. I hadn’t done much shopping there lately either, for the same reasons as above. The two stores were all but identical, and sometimes existed side by side! It was no wonder they shut their doors. Others re-opened under the Best Buy banner, but it was a major hit for the company.

I think Best Buy will continue to exist, but as online ordering and home delivery becomes the norm, I think the stores will be able to shrink in size and survive. Large items like televisions might remain in-store for customers to try out, or to pick up after ordering online. Small items like movies might be phased out altogether, since Amazon’s own home delivery is the king of convenience.

I will continue to watch Best Buy, and sure, I’ll be cheering from the sidelines. I would very much like to buy something cool at a great price from them again, some day.

I don’t shop in the big corporate record stores that often anymore. Hell, I don’t even really shop in stores anymore! I used to, even at the big stores. When I started working in Cambridge, my buddy Chris and I would go to Future Shop once a week at lunch time to check out the new releases. I would typically buy a new movie and a new CD release at least once a week, sometimes more. I’d stock up on blank CDs, or just impulsively buy a guitar there. It happens!

We would do the circuit around the store. We’d start with the new releases up front, then head to the movie section. I would detour over to CDs while Chris would look at electronics and computer games. We’d meet up at the bargain bin as we left. It’s there that Chris and I acquired two copies of Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield on DVD for $4.99 each. The girl at the front counter was jealous and asked if there were any left! She always knew us as the “Tuesday new release guys”. We sometimes wondered if she thought we were a gay couple since we rarely went in without the other!

Sometime in the last few years, both Future Shop and Best Buy (which are the same company) really started to change. They moved the music and movie section to the very back of the stores, providing more room for cell phones and tablets. It was a sign that things were getting worse for people like myself who enjoy owning physical product. Chris is similar to me. He likes to own “whole collections” of movie or TV series. Some of us are just like that. He always likes to own the ones he really loves. (Such as the Police Academy series. Yes Chris I just outed you.)

So, we stopped going to Future Shop at lunch. In fact we haven’t been in ages. Same went for Best Buy. Strangely enough, a Best Buy soon opened in Cambridge, right next to the Future Shop. Even the new Best Buy store didn’t have much in the way of music and movies, so we just stopped spending our money at lunch time.

I can tell you exactly what CD it was that I purchased the last time I bought one at Best Buy. It was the 2 CD/1 Blu-ray/1 DVD version of Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day (2012) which was a brand new release. And even a release that monumental was hard to find at Best Buy!

I walked into the store a few days after the initial release. I saw that all they had on the front “new release” display was the DVD combo sets. I went over to the Zeppelin section in music – nothing there. I checked the same in the movies. Nada. Then I found a Zeppelin display at the side of one of the aisles. All they had there was CD and DVD; none of the 2 CD/1 Blu/1 DVD.

I found a customer service person that wasn’t chatting up her co-workers, and asked her where they kept the brand new Zeppelin Blu-rays?

In the back room, apparently! She found one for me and I purchased it, a little confused why a Led Zeppelin new release on the hot newest format would be in their back room.

So I bought the package; the very last CD set I have purchased at Best Buy. Best Buy have really abandoned the physical music releases, and that’s too bad. I used to enjoy buying music and movies at that store due to the prices, two nearby convenient locations, and the fact that I could usually find everything I was looking for. No longer. Sorry Best Buy: you and I are no longer besties!